Books, Life, Earth

Your voice is all I hear review

Goodreads synopsis: Everything about Jonah is unexpected. On the first day of school, he sits next to April, when he could have chosen to sit with the popular girl. He turns down an invitation to join the school team and declares he’d rather paint. He encourages April to develop her musical talent and shrugs off the bullies that torment them. April isn’t surprised to find herself falling for Jonah. The unexpected part is when he falls for her too. But the giddy happiness of their first romance begins to fade when Jonah’s unpredictability begins to take a darker turn. April understands that her boyfriend is haunted by a painful memory, but his sudden mood swings worry her. She can’t explain his growing fear of cellphones, electric keyboards, and of sounds that no one else can hear. Still, no matter what happens, April is sure that she’ll always stand by him. Until Jonah finally breaks and is committed to a psychiatric ward. Until schizophrenia changes everything. Though everyone urges her to let him go, April stays true to Jonah. But as the boy she adores begins to disappear in front of her, she has to face her worst fear: that her love may not be enough to save him.

My Thoughts: Please bear with me for the entire review. This book was mixed for me. The beginning was absolutely horrid. The characters started out being super cliche and I knew exactly what was going to happen. The first half of the novel was really quickly paced. This happened then that and on and on. I just kept thinking how can this book be as long as it is if everything happens this fast? Throughout the middle portion I was really annoyed with April. She didn’t do anything to try to inform herself of her boyfriend’s illness. She didn’t want to be terrified of what would happen. At one point I wrote “Man up!!” It was difficult. I don’t know why I kept going but I did. The ending was the best part. Up until the last third I was going to give it only two stars, but the last chapters were just such a ride and I was on the edge of my seat. You couldn’t pay me to put the book down. The ending is the only reason it’s getting a 3.5 out of 5 stars and I would say you should read it but beware, I read a lot of reviews that said they put it down as a DNF but if you can make it to the end it’s worth it. Also, I’ve never met anyone with Schizophrenia and so I don’t know how well it was portrayed. I looked online and it seems like he doesn’t have all of the symptoms like most people in real life. He also goes through some therapy and I found it all realistic, but that may just be me.